I finally got some time to work on my first project, and I took pics from the first step till the last. Only problem, on my last pic I ran out of memory, so I started deleting old pics, and I erased half of my new ones by mistake. Anyway here are the ones that survived. It's just a bench for the patio. It was a Poplar that fell across my inlaws back yard. Pop asked me to cut the log up and throw it back in the woods. As I started cutting I kept seeing red and blue saw dust coming out, plus the normal yellow of Poplar. I free handed a slab out of one of the blocks and the wood was spalted really nice, so I saved the rest of the log. On Christmas day I took my mill with the old Homelite 1050 on it out to the log. The only thing I could find for a guide board was a piece of 1/4 inch plywood Pop had in the basement. It was about 9" by 8'
Here's the old work horse that milled the log.
You can see the piece of plywood that I used for a guideboard under the slab. Did I forget to mention that I did this after dark. I timed the second cut, it was the widest, and it took 1 minute and 3 seconds.
I deleted three pics as I got started, this is when I started to mock up the bench, so I could see where I wanted the mortice and tennons. I didn't want to take a chance on ruining any nice grain by pre cutting holes.
In this pic the whole thing is being held together with a ratchet strap. With every thing where I wanted it I marked all of the planks for the cuts.
I guess I deleted the pics of cutting and fitting the pieces too. I used a skill saw to plunge cut the mortices. It didn't quite go through so I used a sawzall to finish. I also used the sawzall to cut the scallops on the upright pieces. I clamped them together and then free hand cut them. As I started going through the curves I couldn't hold the saw dead upright and the bottom piece came out a little shorter. I still have to try and even them up a little. This is where I stopped today. I'm going to power wash the boards one day next week to get the dirt off and see if any color comes back.
These are the planks I posted the question about using a butterfly to keep the checking from spreading. I think you can see the check on the back board. I made the tennons so that the checks were kinda centered. When I forced them into the mortices the tension helps close the checks and hold them tight. I need some kind of finish for them. I think I'd like some kind of epoxy that can fill all of the cracks and worm holes then get hard. When I said it was nicely spalted, it is actually getting kind of soft and punky. Anyhow, that's it, Joe.
Here's the old work horse that milled the log.
![099.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/57c/57c087c4f9ec50df3b096fee73be981d.jpg)
You can see the piece of plywood that I used for a guideboard under the slab. Did I forget to mention that I did this after dark. I timed the second cut, it was the widest, and it took 1 minute and 3 seconds.
![016-1.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/20d/20dcafbd048b990dbea47c9c68a1347e.jpg)
I deleted three pics as I got started, this is when I started to mock up the bench, so I could see where I wanted the mortice and tennons. I didn't want to take a chance on ruining any nice grain by pre cutting holes.
![001-11.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/55b/55bb9fbef276bbf23946ef549420b8b0.jpg)
In this pic the whole thing is being held together with a ratchet strap. With every thing where I wanted it I marked all of the planks for the cuts.
![002-9.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/2a4/2a4b7761b92324bb9b29d9d2f2891884.jpg)
I guess I deleted the pics of cutting and fitting the pieces too. I used a skill saw to plunge cut the mortices. It didn't quite go through so I used a sawzall to finish. I also used the sawzall to cut the scallops on the upright pieces. I clamped them together and then free hand cut them. As I started going through the curves I couldn't hold the saw dead upright and the bottom piece came out a little shorter. I still have to try and even them up a little. This is where I stopped today. I'm going to power wash the boards one day next week to get the dirt off and see if any color comes back.
![005-6.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/918/9185f04474a0d9f70b30da7514589bb0.jpg)
![006-7.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/492/49226050a6554a3b4c2f2f6255e9afa5.jpg)
![004-8.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/bba/bba01c9831200b24c93ba09e7aedeba6.jpg)
These are the planks I posted the question about using a butterfly to keep the checking from spreading. I think you can see the check on the back board. I made the tennons so that the checks were kinda centered. When I forced them into the mortices the tension helps close the checks and hold them tight. I need some kind of finish for them. I think I'd like some kind of epoxy that can fill all of the cracks and worm holes then get hard. When I said it was nicely spalted, it is actually getting kind of soft and punky. Anyhow, that's it, Joe.